Multi-Channel Vendors

Webretailer Series

"I got into “multi-channel” selling a couple of years back, to increase sales and reduce the risk of all my income coming through one marketplace. It’s going well with sales on Amazon and eBay, including international sites, and my own store. If any one channel went down tomorrow it wouldn’t kill my whole business in a shot like it would have before.

This year I’ve hit a roadblock. There’s a lot of admin overhead from running all these channels, we are overselling more and more often, and keeping listings in sync is an absolute nightmare.

I know I need a multi-channel management system but the more I research it, the more my head hurts. It’s impossible to figure out exactly what features they have, how much they charge, what the setup and support is like, and how well they actually do what they are supposed to. There doesn’t seem to be any clear market leader and some of them charge way too much. How can I sort the wheat from the chaff and find the right solution for me, at a reasonable price?" — Seb S., Toronto

Hi Seb,
I know your pain all too well. We help people like you for a living, and this problem is very common for successful ecommerce traders. And therein lies the positive part – you wouldn’t have this issue if things weren’t going so well.

We did examine this topic a while back, looking over the types of systems and things to ask yourself in terms of goals and needs.
With that defined, we should think about a few key questions to ask the platforms. Let’s outsource that headache of yours!
Can the platform import or connect to live eBay listings?
This is a big one, given that you are already trading on eBay.

Up until now, you’ve been creating listings on eBay manually or via the File Exchange process. By the way, if you did use File Exchange, please let eBay know how it works, as their help documentation appears to have been written when DOS was the operating system of choice. Also, allow me to convey sympathy for all those nights you cried yourself to sleep.